Fortuna council to consider former city engineer's claim for damages

The Fortuna City Council will consider Monday whether to reject a claim filed by former City Engineer Dennis Ryan, the first step toward a lawsuit being filed against the city.

The council will also consider giving consent to a cable television franchise transfer of control, and amending the budget to appropriate a $72,000 DUI-reduction grant.

In the claim, filed Oct. 9 by Redding attorney Mark Vegh on Ryan's behalf, Vegh states that Ryan was "subjected to harassing and retaliatory actions by various city employees" prior to his termination by the city in early July.

According to the claim, after the city reduced his pay by 20 percent in late June, Ryan filed a letter with the city's then Interim City Manager Loretta Nickolaus summarizing the city's wrongful actions and requesting information on how to initiate a grievance against the city. Ryan met with Nickolaus on July 2 and July 6, according to the claim, and was told on both occasions that no grievance procedures were available to him.

The claim also alleges that Nickolaus asked Ryan to reconsider or rescind his letter, which Ryan refused. After the second meeting, on July 6, Nickolaus made the decision to terminate Ryan's employment, according to the claim.

Following his termination, the claim alleges that city officials revealed private facts and made false, defamatory statements against Ryan.

In the claim, Vegh writes that Ryan believes these actions "were a result, at least in part, of his consistent implementation of the city's ordinances, codes, standards, policies and procedures at the specific direction of then City Manager Duane Rigge."

The claim states that as a result of the city's conduct, Ryan has incurred significant substantial legal damages, including economic damages related to lost employment, as well as damages to reputation and emotional distress.

Neither Ryan nor Vegh could be reached for comment.

City staff are recommending that the council reject Ryan's claim for damages, which is standard procedure, a staff report said.

"Except in cases where the city is clearly at fault, the standard procedure is to reject the claim with 45 days of receipt in order to initiate the six month time limit ... Following rejection, the claimant has six months to pursue the matter in court, if they so choose," the report said.

City Manager Regan Candelario said he has not communicated with Ryan since the claim was filed.

In other matters, city staff are recommending council members adopt a resolution consenting to the transfer of control of the cable television franchise resulting from the acquisition of Cequel Communications Holdings, LLC -- the parent company of Suddenlink -- by Nespresso Acquisition Corporation.

According to a staff report, the city was notified on July 28 that the assets of Cequel were being acquired by Nespresso. While the city must approve any transaction which will results in a transfer of control, city staff stated that council has limited options if it chooses not to approve the transfer.

Approving the transfer should have no financial impact to the city, and the Suddenlink system will continue to operate under the terms of the existing franchise.

The council will also consider approving a budget amendment to accept a $72,000 "AVOID DUI" grant awarded to the Fortuna Police Department from the Office of Traffic Safety.

According to Police Chief William Dobberstein, Fortuna will act as the lead management agency to distribute the funding to law enforcement agencies countywide. Through the program, the California Office of Traffic Safety will reimburse law enforcement agencies for overtime hours used to deploy officers to areas with high DUI incident rates and for media campaigns. If approved, $36,000 of the DUI enforcement program grant will go to fund personnel services, and $24,000 will go toward overtime for officers.

The 6 p.m. meeting takes place at Fortuna City Hall, 621 11th St. Agendas are available at www.friendlyfortuna.com. Meetings are televised on Public Access Channel 10.